Zeppelin LZ27 L 4
First flight : 18 August 1914
Class : M built at : Friedrichshafen base : Fuhlsbuttel
Commanding officer : kptlt. Von Platen-Hallermund
Flew 11 reconnaissance missions over the North Sea, participated in the first raid over England on 20 January 1915. Forced landing in Blavandshuk on 17 February 1915 during a storm; 11 crew interned, with four members lost when the airship subsequently blew out to sea
Narrative:
19.1.15: Zeppelin L4, Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial German Navy). Bombing raid on King's Lynn; two civilian fatalities in Bentinck Street, King's Lynn, Norfolk. They were Alice Maud Gazley (aged 26) and Percy Goate (aged 14).
Remains of houses in Bentinck street, King’s Lynn
At the beginning of 1915 the Kaiser sanctioned the use of Zeppelins to bomb military and industrial targets in England. So on 19th January 1915 three Zeppelins, L3, L4 and L6 took off from their bases in Germany, each with 16 men, armed with 8x110Ib high explosive and 11x25Ib incendiary bombs, and headed for England.
All of the airships were the new M Class Zeppelins which had Maybach engines which could give them a top speed of 50 mph and they could reach a height of 5,000 feet. L3 was commanded by Kapitänleutnant Hans Fritz; L4 was in the command of Kapitänleutnant Count von Platen-Hallermund; and L6, although in the command of Captain Oberleutnant Freiherr von Buttlar, was also graced with the presence of Korvettenkapitän Peter Strasser who was the overall commander of the Imperial German Navy’s Zeppelin Fleet. L6 encountered problems and had to turn back. Zeppelins L3 and L4 were supposed to bomb north-east coastal towns and fly up the River Humber. But it was not to be and both Zeppelins ended up off the coast of Norfolk arriving roughly at the same time. It is not known for sure how they were 70 miles off course but it was either through weather conditions or navigation errors.
Painting “Air raid on Snettisham Church by Zeppelin L4, 19th January 1915” by Ben Mullarkey
Zeppelin L4 navigated the Norfolk coast and dropped a flare and two incendiary bombs on Sheringham which caused a lot of damage but no casualties. Having flown back out to sea L4 then reappeared where it dropped another incendiary in a field between Brancaster Staithe and Hunstanton. A fourth incendiary was then dropped close to Brancaster church which landed in a road close to the Red Cross hospital. The Zeppelin flew onwards and the fifth bomb is reported to have been a high explosive bomb aimed at the wireless station at Hunstanton. However, there are conflicting reports over this bomb, and it is suggested that this may not have even been dropped. Therefore the next two confirmed bombs to fall landed at Heacham, one exploded in Lord’s Lane where a number of people had narrow escapes and the seventh bomb failed to explode and was found in a field.
Bomb number nine landed at Snettisham, near the church which, it was believed, was the actual target. The Zeppelin flew between Wolferton and Sandringham before flying over Dersingham. What is interesting about this aspect of the raid is that there was the belief that the intended target was the Royal Family. Zeppelin L4 did not target the house and there is no evidence to show that they were the targets, but part of the propaganda after the raid was directed at the belief that the sole purpose of the raid was to bomb the house. Eventually L4 was able use a railway line to reach the Gaywood District in King’s Lynn and the first bomb to land fell in a field at the rear of Tennyson Avenue. The next fell on allotments but the next one caused fatalities when it hit houses on Bentinck Street killing Percy Goate, aged 14, and Alice Gazely, aged 26. Both are reported to have died from shock. L4 dropped another bomb on some terraced houses where it made a large hole and wrecked a blacksmiths but caused no fatalities. The fifth bomb to fall on King’s Lynn fell in a garden by the docks failing to explode, the sixth destroyed an engine at Alexandra Dock.
The last two bombs fell at and around Cresswell Street where the family at No 63 had a lucky escape when an incendiary hit the house causing a fire which was extinguished by neighbours. This final bomb was placed in water by the police and taken into their care. In total the raid on King’s Lynn led to two fatalities and thirteen injured. After the raid, L4 headed east and actually flew past Norwich, which was luckily shrouded in fog and had its lights out, and then was seen to pass Acle and then flew out to sea to the north of Great Yarmouth.
Length : 518 ft 2 in diam : 48 ft 6 in (max) gas volume : 794500 cubic feet
max.speed ; 51.4 mph range : 1366 miles ceiling : 6560 ft crew : 14
Payload : 20100 lb empty weight : 37500 lb
Engines : 3x Maybach C-X of 210 hp each
Literature :